Toulouse, May 21, 2024 – Created in 2022 as part of the HEMERIA group, startup BWI is now independent. It is thus strengthening its development capabilities in Artificial Intelligence applied to hydrology.
After just two years in business, Blue Water Intelligence has developed the first operational version of its watershed digitization service, which currently provides forecasts of river flows and heights. Several contracts have been signed, both in France, with public watershed establishments, insurers and hydroelectricity producers, and internationally, for example with the public management company for the Senegal River delta, and a water agency for a river over a thousand kilometers long, the Godavari, which flows through six Indian regions.
BWI is the only company in the world capable of predicting the flow of rivers 10 days ahead, with an accuracy equivalent to that of specialized hydrological models for the basins in question. BWI uses over 60 data sources, most of them spatial, to feed scientific models parameterized by an AI engine.
The challenges posed by water resources and the effects of climate change are considerable: having reliable information to steer trade-offs on water resources, for example between withdrawals for irrigation and the supply of drinking water to towns and cities, or to accurately forecast the production of run-of-river hydroelectric power, or to guarantee the production of green hydrogen, is proving to be a decisive asset. BWI's data can be put to a wide range of uses, particularly in risk management, water treatment, the agri-food industry, commodity trading (of which water is a part), river transport and tourism.
This first round of financing was carried out by a group of private investors in association with BWI's management. Following this transaction, HEMERIA Invest remains a minority shareholder in BWI.
Jeremy FAIN, Chief Executive Officer of BWI, comments: "In these uncertain geopolitical and economic times, this seed financing round from qualified business angels enables us at BWI to calmly pursue our investments in the service of our customers who, more than ever, need tools to adapt to climate change. Achieving our technological roadmap, which consists of providing reliable hydrological forecasts throughout the world, based on proprietary artificial intelligence, and winning over new customers who are convinced of the need to have a better understanding of water resources in order to carry out their public service or industrial missions, are the two strategic axes we have set ourselves to pursue in our development."
About BWI – www.bwi.earth
We're building the infrastructure needed to digitize watersheds and make communities and businesses less vulnerable to climate change. In concrete terms, BWI helps governments and businesses adapt to the impact of climate change on the availability of freshwater resources by enabling customers to deploy hydrological virtual stations anywhere on a river network. Hydrological virtual stations powered by AI designed by BWI provide basin authorities, insurance companies, low-carbon energy companies, water treatment companies and waterway managers with reliable data and forecasts on river flow, water levels and water quality. In this way, water resources can be better accounted for, arbitrated and managed. BWI, founded in Toulouse, also has offices in Paris and Dhaka (Bangladesh), operates worldwide, and is currently active in South Asia (Nepal, India, Bangladesh) and Africa (Senegal, Ivory Coast).
Press contact
Amandine DELOM - amandine.delom@hemeria-group.com – +1 606-295-9518
